


Plans for the Days Ahead

by Bluewolf458



Series: Days [5]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-29 23:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13937922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim and Blair make plans for the futureFollows An Ordinary Day. A Not so Ordinary Day, A Better Day, and A Happier DayThis is the last story in the series





	Plans for the Days Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2918 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'favourite food'

Plans for the Days Ahead

by Bluewolf

After their morning spent Christmas shopping, Blair (if only because it was his suggestion) treated Jim and Matt to lunch in the cafe of Wilkensen Towers.

As they ate, Blair said, "Matt, is there any particular food you like or don't like?"

"Well... " Matt said.

"Go on. I'd guess you were used to eating whatever you were given, whether you liked it or not, and from what you've said your Mom probably bought whatever was on offer? Because it was cheap?" His voice was very sympathetic.

Matt nodded.

"We don't have to do that, because there are two of us bringing money into the house. Oh, if we see something we like on offer we'll buy it, obviously, but we don't need to buy anything we don't like just because it's cheap. Equally obviously we don't always buy something we love, because that's a good way to get fed up of it.

"So is there anything you particularly dislike?"

"Meat that has a lot of fat through it. Lean meat is okay, but not meat with a lot of fat."

"I'd agree with you there" Blair chuckled, "but would you believe there's one kind of steak - waygu - that's marbled, often with more fat than lean and it's _very_ expensive."

"I'd expect anything with that much fat to be really cheap," Matt said. "Fat doesn't have any taste, and it's sort of slimy."

"Gourmands - people who enjoy food they think is very tasty - wouldn't agree," Blair said. "They'd say it's the fat that gives it taste."

Matt just shook his head.

"Luckily we don't care for waygu beef either," Jim chuckled.

"Okay, that's what you don't like. Is there anything you specially like?"

"Salmon," Matt said. "But that costs quite a lot. We only ever had it if it was half price on its last day of shelf life."

Blair chuckled. "Well, that settles what we have for dinner tonight," he said. "We've got some salmon in the freezer. And Matt - it doesn't cost us that much - because Uncle Jim caught it last fall."

"Caught it?" Matt sounded really startled.  "I thought salmon was always caught out at sea."

"Some are," Blair agreed. "And some come from fish farms - they're kept in big pens quite near the shore - but some are caught in rivers with a rod and line."

"And Matt - come the summer we'll have a few fishing weekends, and I'll teach you how to fish," Jim said. "You're not quite big and strong enough yet to fish for salmon, but we can start you off fishing for trout. Then you'll know how to fish, and in two or three years you'll be old enough to start fishing for salmon. They don't want to be caught, and they're strong, so they fight to get free; they can be quite hard to hold. Trout fight too but they're smaller, and I don't see why you couldn't catch them."

"That... Thank you, Uncle Jim!" Matt exclaimed.

The two men glanced at each other, then Jim quickly returned his attention to the road. Really, it was taking so little to make Matt happy. He could only hope that they would always be able to keep him that way.

Eight was young to be so mature, so aware of life's problems; had he ever known how to have fun, how to be a child? But with luck they could at least teach him how to have fun.

The train set and archery set would be a start; and in two or three months, fishing and maybe some hiking would, with luck, continue the lesson.

And Blair hoped that as he taught Matt, Jim, too, would recover some of the carefree life of a child that he had lost when he was eight.


End file.
